Price city reassigns councilman's duties

Following an executive session during last Wednesday's public meeting, Price officials voted to reassign the duties of Councilman Steven Denison.

The motion, made by Elizabeth Kourianos and seconded by Don Reaveley, was passed Jan. 22 with four council members voting in the affirmative and Denison abstaining.

Kourianos recommended that "the assignments made by the mayor, with the consent of the council, be changed to remove all assignments from Councilman Denison. Further, those assignments currently assigned to Councilman Denison be spread between the other four council members. Included in the reassignment, Councilwoman (Betty) Wheeler be assigned the position as representative from Price city to the position and responsibilities on Price River Water Improvement Board."

Currently, Denison serves as chairman of PRWID.

In other council business, John Milano from Networks International discussed implementing the Price police units with the most sophisticated equipment in the state.

Milano also announced plans to open a wireless internet service in the Price area.

Kresha Eastman was honored with the city's visionary service leader award.

Eric Allred, a team member for the Community Action committee, reported on several items the group is working on to improve the appearance of the city.

The items included:

Improving the appearance of the town.

Exploring the development of a dress code for city employees.

Promoting local citizens' involvement in the city.

Improving the sidewalks.

Installing more benches in the city parks and at the Price Peace Garden.

Looking at improving vacant lots and abandoned buildings.

Identifying and remedying potential fire hazards within the city limits.

In addition, Allred recommended that city officials consider planting a live Christmas tree in the Peace Garden and discussed the storage facilities that are popping up throughout the retail district.

Acting in an unrelated matter at the meeting, Clyde Larsen was appointed to head the pre-disaster mitigation committee.

Norma Procarione and Paula Lewis presented their report on a recent trip to attend Lt. Governor Olene Walkers Literacy Summit. Procarione and Lewis were honored with a statewide literacy award, but voiced appreciation for the city's support the past year.

Condie Construction was paid $262,439 for work on the city's water transmission pipeline project. The payment was for the work completed through Dec. 31.

The project including stored materials is about 71 percent complete. Work installed to date is about 63 percent of the total project; howeve,r 68 percent of the contract time has expired.

The council officially accepted the $100,000 Utah Community Impact Board grant for installing a new boiler at the city swimming pool. The site is being prepared now for installation as soon as the pump arrives.

Gary Sonntag, city engineer, will provide a list of equipment and materials that have been determined not usable to the city departments.

The council recommended declaring the equipment and materials as surplus property and selling the items at an auction in February at the public works complex. The auction will be open to the public.